With the advent of the iPad, a device that will actually allow more people to surf the web, I thought I might tell you of my vision for the classroom of the future. More after the break.
Here in San Antonio one school district has no physical copies of the books. Rather they give netbooks to students to use for the year. I think that text books are going away, and the iPad will make that happen. Why do I think that? It will have the capability of showing high resolution images. If you have a graphic heavy textbook, or just plain book, then being able to see it in color makes it easier.
I see someone building a classroom client for iPad that works with a classroom server. What does that mean to the classroom?
Let’s say I am a teacher. I walk into a classroom. Remember this is high school, not college. The teacher walks into the classroom assigned for their class. The students also walked into the class room. They all take out their iPad device. They log into the classroom. The teacher also logs into the classroom. The Teacher starts her presentation software and lectures. Attendance was taken by the iPads logging into the classroom. Towards the end of the presentation the Teacher hands out the assignments which is placed in the iCal app. The Teacher also returns the homework, or assignments back to the students.
During the course of the lecture the students were taking notes by typing the notes in a note taking program using the virtual keyboard. The assignments that were sent by the teacher to the ical app are published to the website where the parents can log in and check on their kid’s progress. While logged in the parent can send notes to the teacher and vice versa.
Instead of carrying backpacks loaded with books and notebooks, they can carry one device that has their books, notes and assignments. Will this happen? I don’t know. It depends on the technology and whether a school district wants to buy several thousand iPads for their students on a loan basis. I think that something like the iPad is an equalizer. It’s cheaper, probably works better, and does all that a students needs done. The problem comes with those students who will want to fill up the system with songs, or movies.
What do you think? Am I off my rocker, or am I a genius? Comment below if you’d like.
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